


Ghost Dating

by MoonRiver



Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV)
Genre: Boys Kissing, Dancing, Dating, Falling In Love, First Dates, First Kiss, Fluff, Ghosts In Love, M/M, Past Alex Mercer/Luke Patterson (Julie and The Phantoms), Willie Backstory (Julie and The Phantoms), willie is a romantic, willie is old
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-06
Updated: 2021-01-06
Packaged: 2021-03-17 12:49:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,865
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28600224
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MoonRiver/pseuds/MoonRiver
Summary: Willie takes Alex dancing.(Alex goes on his first ghost date)
Relationships: Alex Mercer/Willie (Julie and The Phantoms)
Comments: 16
Kudos: 127





	Ghost Dating

“Dude, your hair looks _fine_!” Luke said behind him, watching in amusement as Alex tried styling his hair in the studio’s bathroom for the dozenth time.

Alex only sighed in frustration as his bangs simply fell into place as he always had. Had he known that he was going to die and be stuck with this hairstyle for all eternity…well, he probably would have happily kept it because 17 year old him in 1995 thought this was _cool_. And he still thought he looked cool as a ghost…until he met Willie.

_That hair…_

His stomach did somersaults just at the thought.

“You know you’re a ghost?” Reggie chimed in behind him. “No one’s even going to be able to see how you look. Best date ever!”

“Willie will see!” Alex groaned.

“Stop!” Luke reached up, catching his arm before he could mess with his hair again. Alex met his bandmate’s eyes in the mirror and caught off guard by how sincere he looked. “You look great, Alex, really. You’re gonna knock his socks off.”

“But maybe not really, because it’s the first date and that would be kind of tacky,” Reggie pointed out.

Rolling his eyes, Alex finally stepped back away from the mirror to examine himself one last time. Maybe the guys were right. After all, Willie knew what he looked what he looked like and they hung out multiple times before he finally asked Alex out on an official date. Alex honestly couldn’t even think that far ahead, he was too focused just words and wondering how he was going to hold a conversation all night.

“Why am I so nervous?” Alex mumbled. “We’ve hung out tons of times.”

Luke smirked at him but did him the honor of not saying anything. They were all living in blissful denial of the fact that this would be his first date since…whatever that was between him and Luke, the year before they died.

“You guys are in a great position to start dating,” Luke offered. “You’ve hung out, you’re friends but you still just met not too long ago. You have a lot to learn about each other. Do you even know Willie’s last name?”

He blinked; he had never even thought about it.

“No…” he turned to Reggie. “Is that tacky?”

Reggie nodded in confirmation.

“It’s okay though, you’re ghosts. Pretty sure all the rules are different.”

He winked, and now Alex didn’t know what to think.

“Reg, can you give Alex and I a minute?” Luke asked, practically ushering the bassist out of the room and back into the garage. He put on a bright smile and turned back to Alex, placing his hands on his shoulders and announcing: “Deep breaths, okay?”

Alex nodded and forced himself to draw in a deep breath and let it out through pursed lips, slowly. They might not need to breathe as ghosts, but they had all found that psychologically things like deep breathing still had the same effect as it did when living. He repeated the deep breathing a few more times before he closed his eyes, checking in with himself to admit that he felt a bit lighter.

“Thanks,” Alex sighed as he let a final breath out. A small smile peered at the corner of his lips. “Are you going to give me a first date pep talk, dad?”

“Let’s be real, your dad never gave you dating advice, you probably need some.”

Luke had a point.

“Yeah, but from an ex?” Alex teased.

It earned him a smile, and Luke offered his shoulders a comforting squeeze before dropping his arms.

“Willie’s clearly special,” Luke told him. “He really cares about you, and I know you care about him. And you deserve this, Alex. This afterlife thing, it’s kind of a second chance for us. Maybe we won’t all exactly grow old together, but you deserve to try to be happy. You spent your life being so anxious and dealing with…what everyone thought. It’s not like that anymore for you.”

Alex bit his lip.

“Well, maybe not the anxious part,” he admitted. “There’s still plenty of that. But…thanks Luke, that means a lot. You sure this isn’t weird? Between us, I mean?”

Luke grinned. Alex knew Luke seemed to be head over heels for Julie, but he still wanted to just make sure there were no hidden feelings left behind.

“Nah, we’re good,” Luke promised.

They shared an embraced, and Alex didn’t mind lingering there for just a second. It was strange, he thought, the amount of times that they shared embraces, touches, kisses…how that could have all meant so much, but now truly only friendship was left between them. The bond between them would always be stronger after their relationship, he knew, but he couldn’t be more grateful to have Luke with him in the afterlife. Maybe it wasn’t an intimacy they shared anymore, but Alex could still feel his warmth; it still eased him.

“Alex!” Reggie called from the garage, in a sing-songy tone of an annoying younger brother. “Your date is here!”

Alex was blushing. Luke patted him on the shoulder.

“You’ll be fine!” Luke promised, in a whisper.

He gripped Alex’s shoulder again in support as he led him out to the garage, where Willie awkwardly stood waiting for him. It occurred to him, Willie hadn’t actually been _in_ the studio before. Even more awkward was the fact that Ray Molina had no idea that Alex had been living in his garage as a teenage ghost and was using his bathroom to get ready for a _date_.

He forced himself to not think about it.

“Hey,” he announced instead, his voice nearly as shaky as he was.

“Hey…”

There was a long pause until Luke finally cleared his throat behind him.

“Well this is not awkward, at all,” his friend announced. He dragged Alex over so that he was standing at least in the same part of the room as his date. “So…you two have fun.”

“Bring him home by midnight or we’ll call the police,” Reggie teased.

Suddenly, Alex wasn’t too keen anymore to stick around. Willie was trying to not laugh, but as he took Alex’s hand he gave it a gentle squeeze. It was comforting knowing he wasn’t the only helplessly nervous sap here.

“Ready?” Willie asked.

Alex nodded.

“Make good choices!” Reggie called after them.

Once they were in the fresh air and quietness of the drive outside the garage, they both let out nervous last.

“Can we maybe, get out of here as fast as possible?” Alex murmured.

“Totally.”

He let Willie lead them, poofing them out of existence and back into existence alongside a packed sidewalk. Alex forced himself to not worry about getting too claustrophobic.

_I’m a ghost. Ghosts don’t get claustrophobic._

“So…what exactly are we doing tonight?” He asked his date.

Willie’s eyes twinkled.

“Dancing.”

Before he could response he was transported again to inside a very loud, very crowded, club. As he took in his surroundings, Alex swallowed nervously as he realized they were easily the youngest in attendance.

“This is a 21 and over club,” Alex shouted over the music.

Willie raised his eyebrows.

“Are you serious right now?”

Right.

Dead.

“A little birdie told me you like dancing,” Willie said loudly into his ear; there was that twinkle again. Of course, Alex thought, he must have gotten ideas from the guys. “So, hot dog…will you dance with me?”

He could only nod, but almost as soon as he was dragged into the crowd he instantly began to loosen up. It didn’t take long to notice no one in the club was noticing anyone but themselves, let alone obviously two ghosts, and after a couple of songs he realized he felt lighter and freer than he had in weeks. Really, since playing in Julie’s school and realizing people could see them when they played. Even better was the fact that he didn’t exactly tire out, instead it was almost like he had more energy the longer they moved together.

The music slowed down, and his hands landed unsteadily on Willie’s hips as his date’s arms wrapped around his neck. As fun as dancing was, slow dancing was another story. Slow dancing was connection. It was constant touch. Eye contact.

Willie smiled at him.

“Where did you learn to dance like that?” Willie asked, his calm voice a nice change from what was seconds ago madness all around them.

Alex shrugged, trying to focus on swaying gently to the music and the soft beat of the drums in the slow song.

“My sister used to take dance classes, and she’d want me to help her practice,” he confessed. “I may have picked up a few things.”

For such a simple response, Willie looked totally impressed.

“You never said you had a sister.”

His heart sank. There was a lot he never told Willie, he realized, mostly because it was nice to have a friend who was just willing to chill with him. If he was anxious, if he wanted to just scream, if he didn’t want to say anything at all, Willie didn’t press him. But of course, now that they were dating, he’d want to know all about Alex. And Alex knew, he deserved to.

“She was a lot younger than me,” Alex explained. “I…I didn’t stay in touch with her after I left the house.”

He fell silent, hoping Willie would take the hint. While the guys claimed to be clueless about their unfinished business, he knew exactly what his included. It wasn’t fair to his sister to treat her like that, but it also wasn’t fair to stay in the house where he and his parents were always fighting and his father was always shaming him. He didn’t want his sister growing up like that. The plan was to live on his own, let things settle down with his family, let his sister grow up with a normal, seemingly happy family, and then reconnect with her once dust had settled.

But the dust never settled.

He died.

He never got to say goodbye…she never got to say goodbye.

It was so unfair to her what he did, he couldn’t bare to think about it. But the denial lately, was getting to be too much.

“Have you tried to find her?” Willie asked quietly as they gently moved together, letting the music push them along.

Alex shook his head.

“I don’t even know what I would do if I did,” he admitted. He swallowed as his voice started to break. “I can’t say anything to her. I think it would just be too painful.”

“I understand,” Willie offered. He paused for a moment, searching Alex’s eyes; for trust, he realized. Then he announced: “I originally went to Caleb hoping to get to see my mother. It’s why I sold my soul.”

The drummer frowned and stared, realizing this was suddenly more information about Willie than he had ever received before. While Alex had offered up very little about his past, Willie had done the same. It was a nice little vibe they had.

This…was a lot.

“You couldn’t just…do Facebook or something?” Alex asked. Willie snorted, clearly impressed Alex even knew the term. “Julie says it’s the easiest way to find people these days.”

“Not exactly…my mom’s dead.”

Alex stopped moving. He felt Willie’s arms hold him closer, begging him to not go anywhere. Gently, Alex brought his arms up and they found themselves practically swaying in an embrace now. Willie lay his head down on his shoulder, and Alex practically melted at how comforting the weight felt.

“I’m sorry,” Alex whispered.

They swayed together silently. He didn’t have a clue what he could say to that to make Willie feel better, but he could only show him he wasn’t there to judge. When the music changed again Willie lifted his head; Alex’s shoulder protested at the lack of touch, limply falling forward as they stood and faced each other.

“If you need a break…”

“I was actually thinking a change of venue.” Willie wink, the usual twinkle back in his eye, as though nothing had happened.

When they disappeared and reappeared, Alex was not only shocked to find they were now in a ballroom, but they were both wearing suits.

“Nice, it worked!” Willie congratulated himself. “You should see your face right now.”

Alex glared as he checked out his suit, which somehow fit perfectly, and even though it was the second time this had happened in his life, it was still incredibly unsettling. It was then that he took in the music, a bright brass band, and the fact that the lifers around them were _swing dancing_.

“I don’t…” he tried, more nervous now than he had been the whole night.

Maybe had oversold just how much he liked dancing.

“Take my lead!”

He really should not have been shocked that his laid back, skater…boyfriend…was a brilliant swing dancer. Somehow, he looked exactly in his element, and Alex tried not to consider it was because the music matched more closely what Caleb would play in his club. Instead, he tried to accept that it was fair to let Willie take on a type of dancing that he enjoyed.

Surprisingly, he found himself getting into the groove of things pretty quickly. As long as he stuck with the beat and kept his eyes on Willie, his feet didn’t trip over each other and a goofy smile remained planted on his face. When the music ended they clapped instinctively even though no one could hear them, and although he had gotten a bit used to swing, he was grateful when Willie just took his hand and let him over to the bar.

Not that they could have anything to drink, but it was nice to sit down. Still, he found himself longing for one of the whiskeys the bar tender poured, that he had never reached legal age to drink as a lifer. All they had managed was some cheap, horrible tasting beer at a party once.

“You want a drink, don’t you?” Willie teased.

“Yeah…seems shameful I never even once got to experience a hangover.”

Laughing, Willie offered:

“You’re really not missing much, and trust me, the Ghost Club food and drink is _not_ worth it.”

Alex grimaced at the reminder, and Willie quickly took the hint that the HCG wasn’t exactly a welcomed topic of conversation.

“So…” Alex announced, looking around at the dancing that continued non-stopped before them. “Swing dancing?”

“I just wanted to impress you,” Willie admitted with a casual shrug, “but I can tell this is not really your thing, so come on.”

In a flash, Willie had transported them back outside the ballroom, and Alex was relieved to find his normal clothes were back.

“How exactly does that work?” Alex asked, not sure if he wanted to know the answer.

Willie just offered him a _look_ and shook his head, confirming he didn’t want to know.

“I’m sorry if it made you uncomfortable,” his date offered. “Truth is, I haven’t done this dating thing in a long time.”

Looking up, Alex was relaxed to find they were on a much calmer downtown street, lined with fancy looking hotels but not many tourists. He wasn’t sure where they were going, and it was a bit of relief to consider that it didn’t matter. Wherever they ended up, they could literally just transport themselves back to where they needed to be.

“Out of curiosity, when was your last date?” Alex asked.

God there was so much more he wanted to ask about dating…and ghost dating, but he knew it better to pace his questions.

Willie winced.

“It’s kind of been…awhile,” he admitted. “Like…five years?”

Alex couldn’t help but to burst out laughing. It was just the way Willie said it, as though it were the most traumatic thing in the world. Considering Alex was seventeen when he died, it wouldn’t have been weird at all to not have dated much in five years.

But he had to consider…

“Wait…how old are you?” Alex asked, incredulous that he hadn’t even considered the question before.

He didn’t know why he had just assumed they must be around the same age, just because they both still looked young. If Willie had died at seventeen, he could stay looking like that in the afterlife… _forever_. Willie just laughed nervously, sticking his hands in his pocket, clearly desperate to avoid the issue.

“Are you technically younger than me or older?” Alex prodded.

Willie did seem pretty current on all things 21st century. Alex realized he technically could be dating someone who was born years after he died.

He wasn’t sure which of the options felt creepier.

“Just a bit older,” Willie tried. Alex glared at him. “Just a couple of decades…or so…”

He quickly did the math in his head, pushing away the nagging thought that he’d never have more than his junior year high school education. He could barely even do the math in his head.

“You were born in the 50s?!”

Though he may have been a ghost, Alex could have sworn the skater’s face burned red in embarrassment.

“1952,” Willie admitted painfully. Alex let out a low whistle. “Yup. I’m old.”

Then the math hit Alex again.

“Wait, you died before I was born?!”

This time, Willie just laughed like a madman.

“Dude, I saw _The_ Beatles. The actual ones. Live. Together, as a band.”

“No way! You’re old as dirt, man.”

“Thanks.”

His mind reeled, but mostly Alex found himself impressed with how calmly he was taking this. Normal Alex would have been absolutely freaking out, analyzing every step of the way what all this could mean.

But this Alex…ghost Alex, who dated dead skateboarders from the 50s…just laughed. He also decided to spare Willie the interrogation about how he too had never mentioned his sibling.

“What was that like, seeing The Beatles?” Alex asked instead. “And…oh my god, John Lennon’s not just walking around the afterlife too, is he?”

“Oh no, I’ve looked, believe me!” Willie grinned. “And it was _amazing_. Dodger’s stadium ’66. My brother got us tickets. Let me tell you, I have been to a lot of concerts. _Best ever_.”

They spend the rest of the night talking about many of those concerts, each one leaving Alex in more awe than the next. He wanted to feel like the biggest, most unaccomplished, loser ever having to admit all Willie had experienced and seen compared to the very short life he spent in a garage band…instead his mind was still reeling with _I’m actually on a date with someone who saw The Beatles live! The guys would die when they found out…again…_

The two walked the streets of LA for hours, holding hands. Alex grinned constantly, never wanting to let go. He was amazed at the amount of miles they covered, more than he had walked his whole life, and he never tired out. Eventually Willie transported them again, so that they sat on top of the Hollywood sign. His mind was absolutely blown as he looked down to his city below. His city that had changed so much, yet felt so familiar as they walked it.

“I don’t know why you were worried about impressing me,” Alex commented, shaking his head. “I mean I thought we were just going to go to the beach or something.”

Willie playfully shoved him. Alex laughed as he swayed, looking down at the length to the ground below with _zero_ fear.

He really had been worrying way too much lately for a dead guy.

“So you’ve just been doing this, for fifty years?” Alex asked. “Just wondering around, going to shows, fake meeting superstars?”

His date shook his head and sighed.

“Obviously it’s not always that great. I mean, you’ve been a handful already to deal with,” he teased. Alex just rolled his eyes. They sat shoulder to shoulder, with Willie’s hand on his knee. “In all honest, it is hard. Clearly. I don’t blame you for not wanting to find your family yet. It’s tough, watching them grow older…watching them die. Not understanding why you’re here and they’re not.”

Willie stared down to the ground beneath them, and Alex couldn’t bring himself to press for details.

“But you do meet a lot of great people,” Willie admitted.

“And exactly how many of those people have been…partners?” Alex dared to ask.

It was a question that had been nagging him ever since Willie admitted how old he was. The skater bit his lip, hesitating.

“Is it a number more or less than the amount of fingers I have?” Alex offered. Willie didn’t answer, and he could only force himself to laugh instead of worrying. “Fingers and toes?”

“You don’t have anything to worry about, hot dog,” Willie promised. Reaching up, he brushed the bangs out of Alex’s eyes and smiled. “I’ve never felt this close to anyone. You kind of terrify me.”

His heart swam, and he felt a bit a relieved to know he wasn’t the only one so head over heels. It struck him how different this date was than anything he had experienced with Luke. That relationship was almost more experimental in nature, trying to figure out if there was something there, before realizing that what they were…was brothers. Best friends. They hadn’t wanted anything to get in the way of that, and they cut it off before things got too far, out of fear. This…this was just an odd feeling that somehow, it was always meant to work out for him to be sitting right here, on this sign, with this man.

“By the way,” Willie spoke up suddenly, “how about you? Did you have any relationships before…”

“Before I ate a bad hot dog and croaked on the biggest night of my life?” Alex sighed. He stared up at the stars, wondering how everything could still feel so alive when he was very much not. At last, he confessed: “Luke.”

Willie’s mouth fell open. He was actually speechless, staring at Alex as though he wondered if he had misheard or if Alex has misunderstood the question.

“Seriously?!”

“Seriously.”

His date’s eyes went wide.

“Wait, this isn’t weird for you two, is it?” Willie asked, looking as nervous once again as he had at the beginning of their night. “I don’t want to be in the middle of anything.”

“No,” Alex promised, feeling a little guilty that he hadn’t disclosed that information from the start. “No, I promise. That was…a very _innocent_ relationship. We’re absolutely, a thousand percent, just friends now.”

“Good. So he won’t mind me doing this?”

Alex looked up, taken by surprise as Willie swooped forward, locking his lips in a long, soft kiss. His hand raised to the back of Alex’s neck, caressing him gently as he looked up, asking for confirmation this was okay. Eyes blown wide, Alex didn’t dare to protest as he deepened the kiss, one of his hands clutching Willie’s knee. His mind wanted to race, but he didn’t give himself time to panic. He just gave in, drowning out the sounds of the city beneath them as they held onto each other. When they finally broke apart, their eyes connected, each struck by how powerful that kiss was.

“Did Luke ever kiss you like that?” Willie teased.

Shaking his head, Alex only pleaded:

“Can we please stop talking about Luke?”

And they kissed again.

An hour later, Alex reluctantly found himself transported back to the garage. It was well after midnight on a Friday night, which meant that they had band practice later that next morning. He was bursting with energy, grateful he didn’t need sleep because he wasn’t sure how he was ever supposed to relax. His mind was cluttered with emotion, with every factoid he had learned and feeling that arose in him. They turned to face each other once again after a quiet walk up to the door.

“Reggie’s probably been on the phone with the police for hours,” Willie joked.

“At least it gave him something to do, he was whining about being bored earlier.”

They shared a smile, and Alex tried to find any reason they could stay out together.

Once again they leaned forward, capturing each other in one final, gentle, kiss good night.

“Gotta save some for the next time,” Willie whispered, his eyes lit up with promise.

Next time. That had a nice ring to it.

“Good night,” Alex whispered back.

“Good night, Alex.”

His boyfriend smiled, like he knew how warm using the drummer’s actual name would sound to him as he disappeared. He was just about to jump into a celebratory dance when someone cleared their throat nearby. Looking up, Alex was horrified to find Reggie and Luke casually learning against the basketball goal.

“What time do you call this, young man?” Luke mocked.

“For all we knew you were lying in a ditch somewhere!” Reggie echoed.

They grinned wild, cheeky grins that all but proved they were very much in fact still teenagers at heart. Alex was blushing, nervously running his hand over the back of his neck as they examined him. He could only hope that hickeys didn’t show up on ghost.

“Did you find out his last name?” Reggie was the first to speak up.

Alex’s eyes widened.

“Oh crap, no, I forgot.”

Luke let out a laugh, impressed, clearly all kinds of ridiculous ideas crossing his mind about why he might have been too distracted.

“What did you guys do?” Luke asked curiously. He patted his cheek right beside his lips, which felt swollen, though they couldn’t be, and Alex nearly died, again, right then in there of embarrassment. “Besides kiss each other senseless?”

“Everything!” It was all coming back to him how much he had to catch the guys up on as they poofed back into the garage. “Check this out, he was born in ’52!”

“No way!” The guys exclaimed in unison.

“So you’re like…the younger man?” Reggie pointed out, perplexed.

“I have chosen to not let that bother me,” Alex announced proudly. “And guys, get this, he saw The Beatles. Live! At Dodger stadium!”

_“No way!”_

He spent the rest of the night replaying the events of the date and all he learned to the guys, capturing their attention until it was nearly sunrise. They talked until they eventually transported themselves onto the roof to catch the sunrise. Laying back, chatting like time would never end, it felt _good_. It felt like old times.

As the morning sunlight illuminated their pale faces and the houses on the street below them one by one began to awaken with life, Alex felt more alive than ever. Reggie eventually disappeared to the kitchen, excited about his morning tradition of watching Ray cook breakfast, leaving just he and Luke alone. Their chatter finally quietened down as they lay on the room with their hands behind their head.

“Did you tell him about me?” Luke asked, uncharacteristically quiet after a long period of silence.

“Yeah,” Alex admitted. “He wanted to make sure he wasn’t in the middle of anything. I guess he hasn’t noticed you’re totally head over heels for a 16 year old female lifer.”

Luke snorted.

“I am _not_ in love with Julie,” he muttered.

He grinned through gritted teeth even as he said it.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Alex teased. He drew in a deep breath before finally deciding to confess: “I’m grateful, you know, for what we had. I’m not like, replacing you. Just closing that chapter and starting a new chapter.”

“Dude, that chapter has _been_ closed,” Luke pointed out. His eyes flashed over to meet his as he promised. “It’s okay. We’ve moved on, people do that. I just couldn’t be more relieved to have you here with me, going through this.”

Frowning, Luke considered how that must have sounded. Alex waited for it…

“I mean, I would have rather you not have died via bad hot dogs at seventeen…”

“I get it,” Alex laughed. “You guys are my brothers.”

“Exactly. But please tell me, I do get to be best man at your ghost wedding, right?”

His face contorted into a mix of confusion and laughter, but honestly…would anything surprise him at this point?”

“Do ghosts even have weddings?”

Was he actually asking that question?

“I have no idea,” Luke smiled as he gazed up at the blue-pink sunrise.

Still having a few hours until practice, Luke decided to poof to Julie’s room to get her to look at some songs he wanted to work on (aka, probably just annoy the crap out of her), leaving Alex still basking in the glow of what had been an absolutely perfect night.

…and, he would only ever admit to himself, maybe he was secretly planning a potential ghost wedding in his head.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed it! I had a lot of fun writing these two :) comments make me super happy! Would love to know what you think! Thanks for reading!


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